VENTURA : New Water Delivery System in the Works

Planning to draw more water from the Ventura River and deliver it to fast-growing east Ventura, the City Council has agreed to hire a Camarillo engineering firm to design the new system.

Robert Bein, William Frost & Associates will receive up to $281,000 over the next six to 10 months while the company designs miles of new pipelines, City Engineer Rick Raives said Monday.

“The major goal is to be able to deliver more of the water we get from the Ventura River to the eastern part of the city,” Raives said. “We don’t have the adequate plumbing to do that properly.”

Raives said plans are to construct a new pipe system from central to east Ventura, where hundreds of new homes have been built and are under construction. He said he does not know how much the project would cost, but that it would be in the millions of dollars.

“Until you do the nuts and bolts of the design of the project, you don’t really have a handle on the overall cost,” Raives said.

Ventura now gets most of its water from two sources, Public Works Director Ron Calkins said. Western Ventura is served by the Ventura River, while eastern Ventura relies on ground water, he said.

Expanding the system would allow more Ventura River water to be used in east Ventura, which has seen the most growth within the city over the last several years.

Raives said designing the system would take at least six months, and that construction would not begin until next summer.

Staff members solicited proposals from 12 companies in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and interviewed four of those. Community Services Director Everett Millais said the Camarillo company is the most qualified to do the work.